[Gllug] Barbican website - accessibility issues

[Jason Clifford]

On 12 Nov 2002, Mike Brodbelt wrote:

> > No, actually it was IBM who did that. MS just bought an OS for the 
> > platform and marketed it agressively.
> 
> IBM would never have allowed MS to retain contro of the OS if they'd
> realised the PC was going to take off the way it did.

IBM had no choice. They were subject to heavy anti-monopoly measures.

Also they had already lost control of the platform by the time MS gained 
total dominance over the x86 platform as IBM had already permitted other 
companies to use the technology to create clones. It was the explosion of 
clone PCs that reduced the hardware costs.

> Indeed. Lotus would work on anything where DOS ran though, again
> liberating the purchaser to choose from many suppliers for the hardware.
> You didn't have to buy your PC from IBM, but you did (effectively, I do
> know about DR DOS and similar) have to buy Microsoft's OS.

Only after DOS 3.3 or so. Up until then there were other choices. DR DOS 
had started to take off in a big way shortly after then but MS cut the 
spokes from their wheels by altering Windows 3.1 so that it would not work 
with DR DOS.

> IBM had no option to demand licensing fees.

They had patent, design and trade secret rights. Look at every other 
platform to see how clones were simply not allowed witbout the payment of 
exhorbitant licensing fees..

Jason Clifford
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